Stavros Tornes
Directing
Biography
Stavros Tornes was born in 1932 in Athens, Greece. He was an actor and director, known for Karkalou (1984), Balamos (1982) and Thiraikos orthros (1968). He died in 1988 in Athens.
Born: January 1, 1932
Place of Birth: Athens, Greece
Known For
Many Wars Ago
Time after time, soldiers of the Italian Army are forced to leave their mountain trenches in attempts to storm an enemy fortress, always with the same disastrous results. As casualties mount, indignation spreads among the rank and file. Disturbed by his superiors' decisions, Lieutenant Sassu is led to question the purpose of war and reconsider where his real duties lie.
Christ Stopped at Eboli
In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
Balamos
In order to buy a horse, a man wanders in the bazaars of Thessaly. His journey will take him further than he imagines, as old prophets, forgotten witches and vampire princes will find himself on his way.
City of Women
The charismatic Snaporaz encounters an alluring woman on a train and pursues her through a forest. He ends up at a hotel populated by women gathered for a feminist conference, where he is an unwanted presence. Snaporaz soon discovers he’s entered a phantasmagoric world where women have taken power.
Open Letter
Thirty-year-old lower middle class Dimitris, faint-hearted and not particularly ambitious, is ready to jump at the opportunity that will get him handsomely provided. He wavers between yesterday, the German occupation nightmare and his love debut with a neighbour and contemporary, fluid reality. He meets Thaleia, a rich woman his age, who frequents the same night club as him, but his daily routine is invariably the same. The closure of the small industry in Drapetsona, where he used to work for the last 8 years, and his relationship with Maria confront him with a different reality. Maria is a progressive, evening school teacher, full of dreams.
Sky
During the cold spring of 1941, with Greece already under German occupation, a long-suffering squad of war-battered soldiers receives orders from the headquarters in Athens to fall back, leaving behind the Albanian Front. As the men retreat through the snow-covered landscapes of the bomb-scarred Greek countryside, the terrifying certainty that nothing will ever be the same again crushes their weary human souls.
Allonsanfan
After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.
Topos
During its 85-minute running time, this jarring experimental film takes a no-holds-barred look at the way women have been treated and depicted in Western art.
Nausicaa
A girl, whose father is from Greece, studies ancient art in France. The film was made for television but never broadcast for political reasons related to its portrayal of Greeks. A work print was screened in Belgium in 1971, and the film is now available in reconstructed form.
Coatti
Stavros and Charlotte - i.e. the director and his partner in life and art, Charlotte van Gelder - are wandering the streets of a burdensome reality like immigrants, tracing the world around them through friendships, journeys and political quests. Made with minimal means with a few rolls of black and white film they managed to scrape together, this is a thoroughly unconventional film that defies traditional narrative structures, spectacularly revealing the director's true vision: a primordial cinema full of imagery that comes out of nowhere and communicates freely, like a small wonder. A large slice of the international film critic community - including Frenchman Louis Skorecki who described the film as a comet - will adore "Coatti" and continue to support Tornes' lonely path until the end.
Filmography
as archive footage
as Geropeismataris
as Old Man in the Corridor
as Balamos
as Self
as (uncredited)
as George Morgan
as Gioacchino
as Michel
as General's Aide (uncredited)
as police officer
as narrator
as Nikos